Feminist. Opinion Slinger. Occasionally an Arse.

This is not my real name

I guess this is obvious, but as very few people will ever read this post I wanted to use it for something informative but ultimately pointless. And so, have the reasons behind my pseudonym.

When I first said to someone “I want a pseudonym”, they offered “Clarrise Fibonacci”, on the grounds that I was a bit like the queen in The Princess Diaries and also good at maths. But Fibonacci was a man, and is well known, and I wanted to celebrate lady mathematicians. I wish I could have used Noether, but it sounded wrong with everything, and so Sophie Germain granted my new last name. This will also probably remind people of Germaine Greer, which is no bad thing.

And Briar? Well, Clarrisse Thorn is a person that exists, and I liked the idea of a plant name but one that was tough and spiky. I googled briar to make sure I actually knew what it was, and found that it referred to a variety of thicket-forming plants, which was good enough. Also, it begins with a B, which is important for some reason.

Huh. I guess I expected that to take more explaining. Well, I guess I will see y’all next time.